House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is the most surprising member on the list of Republican congressmen who have expressed a willingness to vote for tax increases, says Tim Phillips, president of conservative political action group Americans for Prosperity (AFP).

He has great respect for the Ryan budget, which was passed by the House in each of the past two years. In particular, the budget offered, for the first time, real reform of Medicare and Medicaid. “It was good reform, and we respect Paul Ryan,” Phillips told John Bachman of Newsmax TV.

Watch the exclusive interview here.

“But it’s deeply disappointing to see Chairman Ryan join [House] Speaker Boehner in signing off on new tax increases. They act like revenues are going down into government.” That’s simply not true, Phillips said. Revenues have steadily increased over the last decade. “These guys are just spending too much,” he said

AFP hasn’t been involved in primaries recently, but it may change that to go after congressmen who fall off the wagon when it comes to taxes, Phillips said.

“Certainly if a lot of Republicans, especially those in red states for heaven’s sake, if they’re going to wander off and support tax increases, you have to look at a number of options to hold them accountable,” Phillips said.

“We’re also going to be communicating with our activists in these states and these districts. And you can be darn sure they’re familiar with whether members are voting and what they’re calling for here, because it’s important to hold them accountable.”

Meanwhile, Phillips said that if he had to choose between healthcare reform and tax hikes as to which would cause more damage, he would probably go with the healthcare law. “In the long term, Obamacare has enormous new taxes in it, and over a decade, it will probably be a bigger tax increase by a pretty broad factor than what they’re currently considering during the lame duck.”

As for spending, Obamacare “is a massive new increase, and it’s a massive expansion of government regulation and red tape,” Phillips said. So Obamacare “probably be more important.”

The sad thing is that it can’t be repealed immediately. But, “over time we can get this thing repealed,” he said.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is the most surprising member on the list of Republican congressmen who have expressed a willingness to vote for tax increases, says Tim Phillips, president of conservative political action group Americans for Prosperity.